"PSP killer" unveiled
by Ed Stasick 
{ Jan 3rd 2006 at 9:26PM }
Our sister site, Engadget, has the scoop on the wonderous new "PSP killer" from our good friends at iRiver (you know, the folks that produce all of those iPod killers).
We'll eat our own blog if the WiBro ever comes close to 25% of the market share that the PSP currently has, but we'll give them some kudos for the effort (however wasted it may be). Let's look at the good:
- 800 x 480 26k color display (not too shabby)
- 4 or 8 GB of internal storage (we'll give 'em this one)
- semi-cool retractable gamepad design
- completely unplayable controls (from the looks of it anyway. That's one heck of a take on a D-pad)
- and pretty much
everything else
We'll hold off on our final judgement until we hold this thing in our own hands, but we'll be sleeping pretty easy tonight, confident that the PSP will survive the WiBro.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
l0cke @ Jan 3rd 2006 11:13PM
You forgot this under the bad
"and runs Windows CE 5.0"
snarkey @ Jan 4th 2006 11:11AM
Calling this thing a "PSP Killer" is 100% Marketing Hype, period. Hardware specs alone do not a platform make. Who is going to develop games for this thing? Where is the SDK? Where are the channel agreements? Where is the global distribution model?
Until a thirteen year old can walk into EB Games with Mom's credit card and snag this console and a handful of titles, let's call it what it is: A WINDOWS CE PDA WITH A NICE SCREEN.
Plastik @ Jan 4th 2006 1:23PM
The screen does look great, but it looks to be one of the many handhelds that dont venture or last to long out of asia. It has no real known companies or titles, not enough to sway most people who bought a psp or ds. This looks like another wonderswan to me and if you dont know what that is then theres my point.
Mojo @ Jan 4th 2006 4:14PM
It may not be a PSP killer, but at least it has a decent amount of internal storage and I bet you anything it will play your own videos FULL SCREEN. Sony really needs to address this soon - before the widescreen video iPod destroys them.
iriver worker @ Jan 6th 2006 2:46PM
Hi guys,
I am currently working at iriver and I am here to read some feedbacks about you guys about the PSP-Killer. Now,I am just one of those thousands of people around there from iriver to check feedbacks and I just want to answer some of your questions..^^
Ok,first, remember that this is a product that will come out roughly at Autum,2006. So, it isn't finished yet..about 60% is done and iriver is making contracts with many game conpanies including the big ones...they are planning to see if users liked the idea of an analog pad or shoulder buttons and I think that is true.
Games...now,you need to remember that this machine probabaly will not be (in iriver's point of view) a PSP-Killer in GAMING but it will make its life difficult by attacking the weak points of the PSP; the ability to play games is just an addition.
Anyway,coming back to the main point, this machine is far superior than a GPX2...it will be definitely be more successful than that.
Also,we have far better support in games than n-gages so don't worry about that...expect to see BIG titles very soon...^^
This game machine's graphic processor is capable of rendering more than 60fps at the very high resolution of 800x600 which is far superior than that of the PSP(about 480x270..right?)
The screen will be one of its main selling point; far superior than any screens out there in the world,it will have the support of samsung,world's number 1 LCD screen manufacturer.You surely have experienced the short supply of PSPs..didn't you? well..this was because Sony lacked of two importan "materials" for the PSP..which is its screen and the flash memory...and samsung is the company that makes more than half of world's LCD screens and flash memory chips.And,yes..you guessed it..iriver and samsung are both from the world's most advanced country in IT-infrastructure which is Korea! Now, the government has been investing loads of money on the PSP-Killer and for sure,it won't disappoint you...just wait and see..
I don't know much about the price of the PSP-Killer BUT iriver told me that it is far cheaper than PSPs. Why? because you guys don't realize that the PSP is actually far expensive than you though. Ok, the PSP costs around 200 pounds here in the UK BUT you spend money on those UMDs...let's say you have bought a PSP,3 UMDs and a 512Mb MS. Considering a UMD costs around 25 pounds and a 512Mb MS around 60, you are actually spending far more money than you thought.Yes, Sony is making a loss with every PSP sold but their trick is to get money of UMDs and MSs. OK, the initial price of the WiBro will be (according to the marketing department reigncom,korea) probably higher than the PSP but that isn't known yet...feedbacks are analysed carefully not to make the PSP-Killer a failure like n-gages and gpx2s.
So the price of the PSP is expensive as a whole. The new WiBro will have the support of millions of windows applications out there and that is one of its far superior point compared to the PSP which even stops users from these staffs...
The major big points that the WiBro has are:
1.Far superior screen-better than ANY other screen currently out there in the mobile console market
2.Homebrew support. Iriver will support homebrew developers and will even encourage and reward them.This is what this console is different from other consoles-and that is why it is going to be so hot.There are already SNES,GBA/GBC,Sega Dreamcast,PS1...etc. emulators in development so expect to see hot titles!
3.Far better storage. This machine will be a true media center unlike the PSP which can do those things but can never fulfill it due to storage storage. Memory sticks are very very expensive(480 dollars for 2GB) due to sony's marketing strategy. The Killer is really going to kill the PSP in this point.Considering that the 4GB thing for the PSP is HUGE and expensive, the WiBro with double the capacity is ULTRA-SLIM...beautiful
The WiBro will also attract far more female consumers than ever because it is perfect for non-hardcore gamers,design,simplicity and multimedia lovers...which are FEMALES.
The new iriver will undoubtly shake the world attacking both ipods and PSP.
You guys should now REALIZE,that brand such as SONY and APPLE are NOT the whole world.Please don't think they are the best and the WiBro is going to prove that.
I have heared that iriver is a "poor" company...
...
...
Now, what can I say about that (personally)...!!!
Iriver is the first company on the earth to have developed the first Flash-Mp3 Players...ipod was copied from iriver.The company is huge...now it is ready to spent some money...becuase it has saved money for the big PSP killer project...
Hot Korean games should be converted to English and will be avaible for free for you guys to download and to play...
The game you saw on the two screenshoots was CART RACING which is a game that is SO~~ Addictive...everybody even people at the age of 40 play it...now, you can imagine how this game is going to perform globally...it has already addicted millions of gamers in asia...
Iriver...a company far better know than ipods in asia...
You don't hear a lot about them because they are so far away...
Iriver's power is huge...it hasn't shown that yet but wait and see..
This machine is going to prove that..
Oh, and some minor questions answered...
WiBro can support data transmission at speeds of around 3 megabits per second at distances of about 0.6 miles for devices traveling at up to 37 miles per hour. It's based on the same basic technology as WiMax, another emerging wireless Internet standard, and both are part of the IEEE802.16 family of technology standards. Compared to WiBro, WiMax works over a longer range but not as well with moving receivers.
WiBro Draws Interest...
Korean electronics and telecommunications companies have taken the lead on WiBro development and demonstrations of the technology are planned for later this month at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Busan, South Korea. Commercial networks are expected to start in the country sometime next year and Reigncom's planned player will be introduced roughly in line with the launch of the networks.
Reigncom said it will work on the player with KT, South Korea's largest telecommunications carrier, with a view to launching the player in August 2006. No other details of the planned player were available.
South Korea's government expects there will be 9 million subscribers to WiBro networks by 2011. The country had a population of 48 million in 2003.
So you now know about that KT and WiBro logo on the baby...
(By the way..KT stands for Korean Telecom just like BT stands for British Telecom..)
Good, i feel good after writing this...
iriver will be proud..^0^
That's what I would personally say, STOP being brand kiddies and STOP think that Sony and ipods are the best because they are NOT!
And remember, this machine will PROVE IT!
Thanks for reading and...
my love to iriver...
and you guys for the feedbacks..
TaiZ @ Jan 7th 2006 4:08AM
That game isn't "Cart Racing" but the MMO Kart Racing PC game KartRider.
iriver worker @ Jan 7th 2006 7:09AM
Kart Rider is a clone of Cart RAcing
Erick @ Jan 7th 2006 11:53AM
The system looks nice and sounds juicy, however, change the buttons for God's sake. They look uncomfortable.
Anyway, why are you making this the PSP-killer? Do you only want to win PSP's market share, or the whole Handeld market share. Remember, the DS is also there, it has a bigger market share than the PSP. As proven in the DS vs. PSP war (though, it's stupid for me to continue calling it a war between two systems that are definitely not in the same area), you'll need more than graphics for your games to succeed.
What are you aiming at? For it to be a PSP killer, you are only saying that in the multimedia part. The PSP's main function is not multimedia, it's gaming. So if you don't concentrate more in gaming, (instead of calling it an "addition"), you'll lose the battle however great your systemis.
Sounds like an N-Gage to me. If you really are an iRiver guy, you'd better be careful if you want to succeed.
Just my 2 cents.
Grudge @ Jan 7th 2006 2:56PM
What's this PSP widescreen video issue you guys mentioned?
HyperBear @ Jan 7th 2006 4:51PM
OK. If this is really the "psp killer" then y haven't you guys made a showing of it yet at like CES or Q4 or even E3. If you guys think that this WiBro is gonna kill PSP, I'd like to know with what? this is the 1st ivv heard of this thing, and if you guys havent shown its capabilities to the world, (like what sony and nintendo did with their handhelds), then how r you guys supposed to sell any if no one knows about it. I mean, know that I know about it and seen it briefly and heard about it, Im probably gonna want it now, but you guys have to remember the key thing about gaming, its not the extras and functions it can do, Its all about the games. And if u gusy stray away from that, then it wont sell very much. Take Gizmondo for example : They talked about it maybe once or twice a month, but never showed it at any game shows or conventions, so no one knew about it. And it was supposed to be awsome, with a gps unit, a digital camera in the bcak and a gaming system, but because they never announced to anyone, and the games were pretty bad launch titles, it fell and didnt sell quit as much as sony's PSP, and Nintendo's DS. Just make sure you guys announce it, so everyone knows about it, work on the game-pad a little more (cause you might hear a lot of ppl who dont like the 4 butons for d-pad) and most importantly, get on and working on games that everyone knows about and will have fun playing with, cause if there is no good games or games that ppl dont know, they wont invest in ur product.
brok3nvideokid @ Jan 21st 2006 1:58PM
im sorry, but this system sounds really juicy, i think it might be the psp killer, most def. the ds killer... this systems background soudns promiseing... look at it this way, if you dont wanna waist your money on a freaking duo get this, if youd want your home brew *any hardcore psp player loves homebrew* they incourage it, so what sthe problem? are you psp fans just a little sad that your daddy *sony* might actually get served, unlike the ds's and xbox360 short shot of an attempt? i mean this too me sounds liek a better investment the psp and ipod all together... now the ipod does have mass stoarge but thats niether here nore there, if you ant an mp3 player buy one, if you want nothing but videos buy a dvd player, but for everythign pretty much bottled up in one, and done correctly *cough psp* i think this is goign to be a sure win for iriver, and ipoid, and psp both will get a big slap on the wrists and told, hey biotches this is how its done...and for the tittle releases, get over it, i mean no its not going to have the same games as a psp, if your so heartfelt for the psp's games then buy a psp, but i am willing to spend sum more time at work at EB and buy this unit, i mean come on, im surrounded by games at least 6 hours a day... in my opinion this is goign to set the new bar on the handlheld... if only they could promise sumwhat of a umd movie for it, but if they did that, that would be madness... it would be almost too perfect 0.0
BVK*
PSPsucks @ Feb 1st 2006 3:28PM
DS is already the PSP killer, which never really had a cahnce to begin with. By the way how is everyone's PS game libraries are there any good games for that thing yet?